Wests Tigers return to the battle field this Friday when they will host Canberra Raiders at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
Head coach Benji Marshall has just named his quad for the must win match, and the good news is he gets some firepower back in the forwards.
Returning from injury are Alex Twal and Fonua Pole, who will add some starch to the Tigers defence against the rampaging 2025 green machine.
Co-captain Jarome Luai has been included in the team named, even though he will be backing 48 hour after Origin 2 in Perth.
After four losses on the trot, Benji’s side have slipped to 13th on the ladder.
But the competition is so congested they are only two points off the top eight, with three teams sharing that spot on 16 points.
The Tigers are on 14 points, off the back of five wins and two byes.
They have suffered some narrow defeats, the 64-0 embarrassment at the hands of the Storm the only exception.
But this Friday night Benji Marshall will need to pull out all stops to get the two points against the Raiders.
His team has looked like it will explode and smash an opponent and Friday night will be as good a time to do it as any.
In off field news, Wests Tigers have announced that Kai Pearce-Paul will join the club ahead of the 2026 season on a three-year deal.
The English international second rower has played 32 NRL games for the Knights since joining Newcastle for the 2024 season and previously played 61 games for Wigan from 2020-23.
TEAM LIST FOR CANBERRA MATCH: Jahream Bula, 2. Sunia Turuva, 3. Adam Doueihi,
4. Starford To’a, 5. Jeral Skelton, 6. Heath Mason, 7. Jarome Luai (c), 8. Terrell May, 9. Api Koroisau (c), 10. Fonua Pole, 11. Samuela Fainu, 12. Alex Seyfarth, 13. Alex Twal. Interchange: 14. Tallyn Da Silva, 5. Sione Fainu, 16. Latu Fainu, 17. Jack Bird, 18. Tony Sukkar
Tigers will win. They have to. That’s all there is to it.